Website-controlled establishment of telephone connections

ABSTRACT

The invention relates a method for telephoning, wherein a telephone connection is established between at least two telephones under control of a web site.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

In general, the present invention relates to communications accomplishedby using telephones. In particular, the present inventions relates totelephoning between at least two telephones, wherein the telephoneconnections used here are not established directly by a telephone butunder control of a web site.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In order to communicate by using telephones via a telephone network,desired telephone connections are established starting from a telephoneused to call to a telephone to be called. For that purpose,conventionally, a telephone number of the telephone to be called istransmitted by means of the calling telephone to a means of a telephonenetwork used for establishing telephone connections. Here, a telephoneconnection is established from the calling telephone to the exchangemeans. On the basis of information obtained from the calling telephone,for example in form of the telephone number of the telephone to becalled, the exchange means establishes a telephone connection to thecalling telephone and connects these telephone connections or routes thetelephone connections starting from the calling telephone to theexchange means to the telephone to be called.

This procedure has several drawbacks. On the one hand, conventionaltelephones are only capable to a limited extend to provide a userestablishing a telephone connection with information of telephones to becalled and persons to be called, respectively. There are telephones,which provide the user with stored telephone numbers. Such informationabout persons to be called and telephones, respectively, are of smallcontent compared with information, which is available as regards personsand telephones, respectively, to be called. Further, the userfriendliness of conventional telephones is primarily designed toestablish a telephone connection between two telephones. Theestablishment of a conference call or a further telephone connection inaddition to an already established telephone connection often requirescomplex operation procedures for the user of a telephone.

Moreover, it is not possible for a person who wants to call anotherperson to indicate starting from which of his/her telephones a telephoneconnection should be established with the other person. Rather, a callerhas to decide in advance which of his/her telephone he/she wants to use.

The document U.S. Pat. No. 6,337,858 B1 describes a method and anapparatus to permit voice communications between a consumer browsing theinternet and a business having an interactive information page on theinternet. The information page on the internet that the consumer isusing in order to establish a telephone connection to the businessbelongs to said business.

Document U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,261 B1 describes a system for establishinga communications call between two parties with the help of a directoryservice provided on a worldwide web server. Here, the establishment of atelephone connection happens via the directory service, which can be awhite page or yellow page service. The associated website does notbelong to any of the parties but is owned by a third party being thedirectory service provider.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,281 B1 shows various methods of establishingtelephone connections between a user A and a user B. In this context,user B may have a website with several web pages written in HTML andeach page contains a graphical “phone” button. A whilst browsing B'swebsite over the worldwide web may decide that he would like to calluser B to discuss some items of interest. To call user B, A simplyactivates the phone button on the currently viewed page of B. Atelephone connection may then be set up between the telephones of user Aand user B with the help of the server associated to B's phone page.Thus, in the methods described by U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,281 B1, atelephone connection is established under the control of a website thatbelongs to the called party.

Accordingly, A has to separately go on each of the person's web pagesthat he wishes to call, in order to establish a telephone connectionwith them. If for example A wishes to call a different user after havingcalled B using B's phone page, A first needs to leave B's phone page andthen has to access the phone page of the other person that he wishes tocall before he can actually initiate a telephone connection with thisother person. If A wishes to call a great number of people, using thesystem described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,281 B1 can become verycumbersome.

Document Low C et al: “webin—an architecture for fast deployment ofin-based personal services” Workshop record. Intelligent Network.Freedom and Flexibility: Realising the promise of intelligent Networkservices, XX, XX, 21 Apr. 1996 (1996-04-21), pages 1-12, XP002043670describes a system analogous to the one described in U.S. Pat. No.6,282,281 B1.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

Following from the problems mentioned above it is an object of thepresent invention to provide a method for setting up telephoneconnections using a webpage, which method allows a user wishing to setup more than one telephone connection to do so in a simple way with aminimum of effort.

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The approach underlying the present invention to solve the above objectis to establish a desired telephone connection under control of a website. The present invention contemplates that for establishment of atelephone connection from a telephone to at least one other telephone aweb site is used, which is associated to the person requesting thedesired telephone connection. In contrast to the state of the art,therefore, establishing a telephone connection according to theinvention does not necessitate the use of the telephone of the person(also referred to as “caller” in the following) initiating the desiredtelephone connection. Rather, the caller uses his/her web site in orderto define the telephone or the person to be called, whereby the input ofa telephone number in a telephone as conventionally required is avoided.Due to the property of a web site to provide practically unlimitedinformation and interactive operation capabilities, the userfriendliness and user support in establishing telephone connections canbe improved.

Particularly, the present invention provides a method for telephoningwherein a telephone connection between at least two telephones isestablished under control of a web site.

The term “web site” as used herein defines sites and sub-sitesassociated thereto, which can be uniquely addressed by means of a singleaddress such as a telephone number, an IP address, an URL, etc. Inparticular, the term “web site” defines a web site known from theInternet with a specific URL, which can be used by means of suitabledata transmissions and connections using the Internet.

Further, a web site in terms of this invention can comprise one or moreweb pages. Web pages represent a part of a web site.

Preferably, a telecommunications web site is used in the methodaccording to the invention. A telecommunications web site differs fromconventional web sites in that they provide, upon an access of an enduser, direct private communication for the accessing end user.

A telecommunications web site is associated to, personalized for orcorresponds with a specific person. In this context, the term “person”is used to represent any entity capable of communicating with a website. Examples are, besides natural persons, companies, single units,for example in form of technical arrangements or systems and in form ofsoftware applications, specific addresses, specific geographiclocations, specific end user devices and the like. As end user devicesin this invention, end user devices are contemplated, which can access aweb site via a data network, in particular via the Internet. Examplescomprise computer-based systems, personal computers, portable and mobilecomputer units, WAP-capable means and devices and the like.

A further feature of a web site according to the invention, inparticular of a communications web site according to the invention, isthat this is not limited to a single transmission medium in contrast toa web site known from the Internet. Rather, a web site according to theinvention allows a so-called multi-media communication, and i.e., forexample, the Internet, telephone networks, IP-based networks, GSMnetworks, UMTS networks and the like can be used. This allows toestablish telephone connections between telephones by means of a website according to the invention.

Preferably, in establishing a telephone connection according to thepresent invention, a telephone connection is established via aconventional telephone network, wherein a single or more telephoneconnections required for establishment of a requested telephoneconnection are established under control of the web site.

It is possible that, as both the caller and the person to be called usetelephones as end user units, the telecommunications web site works as avirtual operator connecting both the calling party and the called party.

Several types of telephone connections can be used to establish acommunications link between the telephones. Preferably, a telephoneconnection is established according to the most effective path. Mosteffective preferably means the path with the highest quality of service.It may also mean the path with the lowest cost or billing structure, ora combination of these criteria.

Further, it is preferred that the telecommunications web site includes aconnection means for establishing a communications link (telephoneconnection) between at least two telephones. With this combination of atelecommunications web site with a connection means, it is also possibleto connect different telephones from different technical environments toeach other.

The connection means may be controlled by the telecommunications website. By controlling the connection means by the telecommunications website, the telecommunications web site can work as a “virtual operator”.The telecommunications web site can now connect two or more telephonesby controlling the connection means that are used to establish thisspecific telephone connection between these telephones. This telephonesconnection is established and/or provided by the telecommunications website, not necessarily via the telecommunications web site.

The connection means may be a converter, an adapter, an IP-switch, anATM-switch, a mechanical or electro-mechanical switching board, aprotocol translator, a gateway, especially a telephone network gateway,a UMTS/G3 network gateway, a computer network gateway, a televisionnetwork gateway, a cable network gateway and/or an Internet gateway or acombination of these components. With these components, thetelecommunications web site may establish a telephone connection betweenthe specific telephones building up chains of components to establishthis connection. Preferably, these chains of components also comprisetransport means like cable, wire, networks, radio communications, etc.

Here, it is contemplated that the caller provides his/her web site data,which characterize the person or the telephone to which the callerrequests a telephone connection. In contrast to the state of the art,the use of a telephone is not required here.

On the basis of the information provided by the caller as regards aperson to be called and a telephone to be called, respectively, the website can first establish a telephone connection to a telephone of thecaller. This makes it possible that the caller is not required to decidewhich of his/her telephones should be used when defining a person to becalled or a telephone to be called.

Rather, the use of a web site allows the caller, essentially independentof a point of time when he/she provides information characterizing theperson to be called or telephone to be called, to decide by means ofwhich telephone he/she wants to telephone. Further, the use of a website allows that the caller can, by means of his/her web site, establisha further telephone connection in addition to a telephone connectionalready existing, wherein he/she is not limited in his/her selection towhich of his/her telephones the further telephone connection is to beestablished.

After the establishment of a telephone connection to one of his/hertelephones, which the caller has preferably defined by respectiveinformation provided to the web site, the web site can establish atelephone connection to the telephone defined by the caller or to theperson defined by the caller. Preferably, this telephone connection isestablished as early as the caller has controlled or operates thetelephone indicated by him/her such that the web site is informed thatthe caller actually wants to establish the requested telephoneconnection. For example, this can be accomplished in that the caller, inresponse to the telephone connection established to his/her telephone bythe web site, activates that telephone for telephoning, i.e. for examplelifts the telephone hand set.

As an alternative, it is possible that the web site first establishes atelephone connection to the person desired by the caller or to thetelephone desired by the caller, and subsequently provides for atelephone connection to a telephone defined by the caller when thedesired person and the desired telephone, respectively, can be actuallycontacted, i.e. a telephone connection established thereto is existing.Again, it remains the caller's option to define which of his/hertelephones should be used.

Depending on the way in which the web site establishes telephoneconnections, these will be, if actually existing, connected such thatthe caller can telephone with the person to be called and the telephoneto be called, respectively, in the conventional manner. As analternative to a connection of telephone connections, the web site canforward a telephone connection being established first, i.e. can forwardthe telephone connection established with the used telephone of thecaller to the person to be called and the telephone to be called,respectively, or can forward the telephone connection to the person tobe called and the telephone to be called, respectively, to the telephoneof the user to be used.

Further, it is contemplated that telephone connections established bymeans of the web site can be controlled. In particular, the web siteshould allow that, in response to a respective input from the caller'sside, an established telephone connection is maintained and/or muted.

This makes it possible, using the web site, to establish a furthertelephone connection besides an existing telephone connection to adifferent telephone to be called or to a different person to be calledwithout being required to terminate the existing telephone connection.

It is also possible to establish a telephone conference with at leasttwo persons to be called or two telephones to be called, respectively,using the web site and under control of the same.

Here, it is contemplated that, even in case of an existing telephoneconference, besides the same one or more telephone connections can beestablished which will not form part of the telephone conference.

Preferably, the web site is adapted such that each single condition andstep, respectively, in establishing a telephone connection is indicatedto the caller. For this purpose, for example, different web pages,windows, text displays, colour designs, voice outputs, audio outputs andthe like may be used, which can support the interactivity in using theweb site.

Thus, the present invention provides a method for telephoning, whereininformation is provided from a caller to a web site, which characterizesa first telephone to be called. Then, by means of this information, afirst telephone connection to the first telephone to be called isestablished under control of the web site.

Preferably, the first telephone connection is established under controlof the web site between the first telephone to be called and a firsttelephone indicated by the caller.

Here, it is contemplated that information characterizing the firsttelephone of the caller is provided to the web site by the caller.

For establishing the first telephone connection it is possible that theweb site first establishes a telephone connection to the first telephoneof the caller and subsequently establishes a telephone connection to thefirst telephone to be called. In order to put the requested telephoneconnection into operation, these telephone connections are connectedunder control of the web site.

Advantageously, in this case, the telephone connection to the firsttelephone to be called is established only when the caller indicates,for example by lifting the telephone hand set of his/her indicated firsttelephone, that he/she actually requests the first telephone connection.

As an alternative, it is possible that the web site first establishes atelephone connection to the first telephone to be called andsubsequently establishes a telephone connection to the first telephoneof the caller, which is to be connected therewith.

Here, it is contemplated that the telephone connection to the firsttelephone of the caller is established only when the telephoneconnection intended for the first telephone to be called was actuallyestablished.

Further, it is possible to establish a second telephone connection to asecond telephone to be called under control of the web site, whereininformation characterizing the second telephone to be called is providedto the web site by the caller.

Here, it is possible, under control of the web site, to establish thesecond telephone connection between the second telephone to be calledeither to the first telephone of the caller or to another, secondtelephone defined by the caller. Here, it is also possible that thecaller provides the web site with the information characterizing thesecond telephone of the caller.

The establishment of the second telephone connection can, as set forthabove with reference to the first telephone connection, be firstestablished to the first telephone or to the second telephone of thecaller and then to the second telephone to be called or to this firstand then to the first or second telephone of the caller.

The observations made with respect to the second telephone connectioncorrespondingly apply to a third and each further telephone connectionto a third party to be called and further telephones to be called aswell as to third and further telephones of the caller.

Telephone connections established under control of the web site can bemaintained in parallel, wherein users of telephones that were called canonly communicate with the caller. In that case, only one telephone ofthe caller is used and telephone connections to the called telephonescurrently not used for communication can be muted or maintained. Whenusing two or more telephones of the caller it is possible that thecaller communicates with several telephones to be called in parallel.

Further, it is possible that, under control of the web site, telephoneconnections being subsequently or simultaneously established can beintegrated or united in a telephone conference, wherein telephones to becalled participating in the telephone conference can simultaneouslycommunicate with the caller. Here, it is contemplated that telephoneconnections united in a telephone conference can be established andmaintained, respectively, in parallel to telephone connections beingseparated therefrom. This makes it possible that the caller is enabledto communicate on the one hand in a telephone conference, andseparately, by means of at least one telephone connection.

Preferably, the web site displays to the caller the operation conditionsoccurring for establishment or during establishment of telephoneconnections of both the web site itself and as regards telephoneconnections to be established and/or to be maintained under control ofthe web site. This can be accomplished by means of graphical displays(web pages, windows, menus, icons, control fields, control areas,buttons) and the like, acoustically (e.g. voice outputs, audio outputs)and the like.

In order to provide the web site information of the above named kindfrom the caller's side, it may be necessary that the caller accesses theweb site. Here, for security purposes, it can be necessary, that thecaller provides identifying data, for example in form of passwords, IDcodes and the like.

Further, it is contemplated that the establishment and/or themaintenance and/or the termination of a telephone connection beingestablished under control of the web site is accomplished by means ofthe web site in response to information provided by the caller. Here, itis possible that the caller provides information to the web site whichindicates that a telephone connection is to be established, that atelephone connection is to be muted, that a telephone connection is tobe integrated in a telephone conference, that a telephone connection isto be removed from a telephone conference or that a telephone connectionis to be terminated.

Preferably, the user employs an end-user device, which is no telephoneof the caller, for providing information and/or for accessing the website. In particular, it is contemplated that the caller uses acomputer-based system, for example a personal computer and the like.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the method according to theinvention, a telecommunication web site is used as web site.

SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

In the following description of preferred embodiments, it is referred tothe enclosed FIGS. 1 to 23, which illustrate web pages according to theinvention of a web site according to the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following description is based on a scenario, wherein a user of atelephone, which will be referred to as caller and calling telephone,respectively, wants to establish a telephone connection to another userof another telephone, which will be referred to as called person andcalled telephone, respectively, in the following using his/hertelecommunications web site, i. e. of the caller.

In order to put the requested telephone connection in operation by meansof his/her telecommunications web site, the caller contacts his/hercommunications web site. This is accomplished in that the callerutilizes a browser (software application for Internet basedcommunication) executed on a computer system (e.g. personal computer)used by him/her for inputting an identification or address uniquelyidentifying his/her telecommunications web sites, for example in form ofan URL.

This effects that the caller gets to a web page of his/hertelecommunications web site illustrated in FIG. 1. As all other webpages of the telecommunications web site of the caller, this web page ispersonalized for him/her. In that case, personal invention is indicatedby means of the name (“Max Mustermann”) of the caller inserted in thisweb page on suitable locations. Further possibilities to personalize aweb page of the telecommunications web site of the caller is anintegration of data being uniquely associated to the user and uniquelycharacterizing the same, respectively, for example in form of initials,telephone numbers, E-mail addresses and the like. In contrast to otherweb pages of the telecommunications web site of the caller, the web pageshown in FIG. 1, which also can be referred to as start page, isaccessible to the public. That is, any person knowing the address andidentification, respectively, of this telecommunications web site canget to this web page.

As explained in the following, further access to other web pages of thetelecommunications web site of the caller is not possible for otherpersons. However, a person being different from the caller can use theweb page “start page” to provide a message to the caller as “owner” ofthis telecommunications web site.

For that purpose, the portions/windows illustrated in the lower portionof FIG. 1 are contemplated. By means of these it is possible to providethe owner of this telecommunications web site, i.e. the caller, amessage for example in form of an E-mail or an SMS.

In FIG. 2, the web page is illustrated subsequently to a use of thenamed portions/windows. In the text field provided with the designation“Message:” in FIG. 2, a text to be sent as E-mail is inputted. In thetext field provided with the designation “From:” in FIG. 2, the personutilizing this type of communication has inputted his/her name, his/herinitials or other characterizing information. In order to enable theowner of the telecommunications web site to re-transmit a message inform of an E-mail and/or by means of a telephone call, it is possible toinput an E-mail-address requested for receipt of an answer into the textfield provided with the designation “Your E-mail-address:” and atelephone number, respectively, requested for an answering call into thetext fields provided with the designation “Your telephone number:”. Anoperation of the control field “Send” effects a transmission the E-mail.

Beyond that, for persons, whom do not correspond with the caller beingowner of the telecommunications web site comprising the web pageillustrated in FIG. 1, it is not possible to utilize thistelecommunications web site, i.e. to get to web pages being different tothat illustrated in fig.

For further utilization of the telecommunications web site it isnecessary to input a password, a code, a key or comparable into the textfield named with the designation “Password”. In order to enhancesecurity, it is further contemplated that further data foridentification of the telecommunications web site must be provided, forexample, in form of biometrical data (e.g. speech, finger prints, printsof the anterior of an eye and the like). In order to support the ownerof the telecommunications web site, i.e. the caller, his/her name (“MaxMustermann”) is already entered in the web page. If the password iscorrectly inputted, it is possible to access and use, respectively,further pages of the telecommunications web site. For that purpose,subsequent to an input of a password, the switching field “Login” isactivated. In case, this procedure referred to as “registration” issuccessfully completed, i.e. if both username and password are correct,the caller gets to the web page illustrated in FIG. 3.

The web page illustrated in FIG. 3 enables the caller to accomplish andinitialize, respectively, different interactive procedures. By means ofthe menu bar illustrated in FIG. 3 at the right and in FIG. 4 inseparated, enlarged manner, different control fields are provided. Thesecontrol fields altogether serve for management and utilization ofaddress entries of the caller. Here, address entries are to beunderstood as such data/or information, which characterize persons,telephone connections, computer units and systems, respectively, and thelike that can be connected using the telecommunications web site.

Such address entries are sorted in alphabetical manner, wherein it ispossible to access the same activation of the control fields 1, . . . ., 9 (“abc”, . . . . , “yz”). Further it is possible to associate addressentries to a group referred to as “Favorites”, in which address entriesoften used are integrated. By activation of the control field 10 thecaller directly gets to address entries of the group “Favorites”.Address entries can be also grouped according to different criteria,such as family, friends, business contacts, colleagues and the like.Accesses to such grouped address entries are accomplished by operationof the control field 11.

In order to enable the caller to also telephone with persons for whichno address entry is existing the control field 12 is provided. Aselection of this control field routes the caller to a web page notillustrated here where he/she can directly input a telephone number tobe called.

In order to include a new address and tree, the caller operates thecontrol field indicated with 13 in FIG. 3 and 4.

In order to modify or to utilize existing address entries, the callerselects, as indicated by means of the name “Hanno

Hensing” being shaded in FIG. 5, a desired address entry. An addressentry thus selected can be used comparable to a control field. Here, itis contemplated that a utilization of a selected address entry ascontrol field is possible by operation of the right button of a mousehaving two buttons (left mouse button in a mouse used by a left-handedperson). The utilization of a selected address entry comparable to acontrol field can also be effected in different manner, for example bymeans of a given key combination of a keyboard of a computer used by thecaller.

When the caller has chosen the selected address entry and has activatedthe same comparable to a control field, he/she is presented the windowindicated with reference numeral 14 in FIG. 5. In this window 14,further control fields are provided, which enable the caller to call theperson associated to a selected address entry or to provide this aperson a facsimile, an E-mail or an SMS-Message. These control fieldsare indicated by the reference numerals 15, . . . , 18 in FIG. 5.

By means of the control field “Edit” in the portion indicated by 19 thecaller can modify (edit) the selected address entry, while the controlfield “Delete” effect that the selected address entry is removed fromthe address entries of the caller. In case, the caller selects thecontrol field 20, he/she is provided, as illustrated in FIG. 6, a viewconcerning the manner he/she has communicated with the person associatedto the selected address entry. In the example illustrated in FIG. 6, allthe telephone connections to the person of the selected address entryare listed. As an alternative, it is contemplated that this listreferred to by the term “History” presents different communicationstypes, also in combination with each other and also in combination withthe telephone calls carried out.

The presentation of the history of communications connections with theperson associated to the selected address entry can be accomplished inform of a window in the web page illustrated in FIG. 5 or in an own webpage not being illustrated here. In the illustrated example, thepresentation “History” will be presented in a window integrated in thepage of FIG. 5. By operation of the control field “Extended view”indicated by 22 in FIG. 6, the caller is provided a list of accomplishedcommunication concerning the selected address entry in a new web page.

In case the caller selects the control field “Settings” indicated by 21in FIG. 5, he/she gets to the presentation illustrated in FIG. 7. Thispresentation indicates under which telephone number the caller can becurrently contacted at that time. Further, it is possible to modify theset telephone number in a window provided in the web page illustrated inFIG. 5 or in a presentation displayed in an own web page. In theillustrated example, the caller can select between his/her privatetelephone number (“mobile”) or his/her business telephone number(“office”).

In case the caller operates the control field “Further settings”indicated by 23 in FIG. 7, he/she gets to the web page illustrated inFIG. 8. As can be seen there, by means of that web page, the caller isenabled to accomplish and modify, respectively, his/her personalsettings in his/her telecommunications web site as regards itsutilisation for telephone connections. As set forth in the beginning,the telecommunications web site described here represents a specificcommunications web site referred to as “WEB.DE ComWin” (privatetelephone exchange). As an alternative, its function as privatetelephone exchange can also be provided by a telecommunications web siteassociated to the caller, which provides different functions inaddition. In this case, the telecommunications web site described herewould represent a sub-web site or a group of web pages of such atelecommunications web site contemplated for several functions.

The telecommunications web site as described here serves as telephoneexchange (“ComWin”) in order to establish a telephone connection betweena telephone of the caller defined according the settings (see FIGS. 7and 8) and another telephone of a person (“called person”) beingselected using address entries (see FIG. 5), with whom the caller wantsto telephone. A fundamental difference to a telephone connection beingconventionally established, i.e. in response to the input of a telephonenumber in a telephone, here, the caller does not use his/her telephonefor inputting a requested target telephone number.

Also, the establishment of a requested telephone connection is differentcompared to the establishment of a conventional telephone connection. Incase, the caller has selected the telephone number of the person to becalled, first a telephone connection to the telephone of the callerdefined in the settings is established under control of thetelecommunications web site of the caller. Only when the caller actuallywants to establish the requested telephone connection to the person tobe called, a telephone connection to the telephone of the person to becalled is established under control of the telecommunications web site.The fact that the caller actually wants to set up the requestedtelephone connection, can be recognised by the telecommunications website in that, for example, the caller picks up, in response to theestablishment of a telephone connection to his/her telephone, thehandset thereof or indicates in a different manner that he/she wants totake the call. Here, it is possible to indicate the telephone connectionestablished by means of the telecommunications web site to the telephoneof the caller comparable to a conventional telephone call, for example,in that the telephone of the caller rings.

For establishment of these telephone connections, it is contemplatedthat the telecommunications web site establishes two, initiallyseparated telephone connections, namely one to the telephone of thecaller and one to the telephone of the called person, which aresubsequently connected with each other. As an alternative, it ispossible that the telecommunications web site initially establishes thetelephone connection to the telephone of the caller and, then, roots thesame in direction to the telephone of the called person if actuallyrequested by the caller.

In order to indicate which person should be called, the caller canprecede in different manner. The caller can, after activation of controlfield 12 (see FIG. 3), manually input a desired telephone number.Further, the caller is allowed, as set forth with reference to FIG. 5,to select a telephone number being associated to a selected addressentry by operation of control field 15. A faster method to select atelephone number being associated to an address entry is to activate adisplayed address entry comparable to a control field. This can, forexample, be accomplished by an operation of a mouse referred to as“double-click”.

In the following, the further course is explained by means of example ofa selection of a telephone number for an existing address entry. Theseobservations correspondingly apply for a telephone number entered bymanual input, wherein due to a missing associated address entryinformation available by means of the same are not provided to thecaller as long as single or more of such information, which relate to atelephone number to be called and a person associated to the same,respectively, can be provided in different manner (e.g. by access to adatabase from the telecommunications web site's side in dependence of amanually inputted telephone number).

In case the caller has selected a telephone number to be called using anaddress entry, he/she is displayed the web page illustrated in FIG. 9.In this web page, the caller is still allowed to modify the telephonenumber under which a telephone connection should be established (seeFIG. 9 bottom). The presentations of FIGS. 5 and 9 differ essentially bythe “Contact” window 24 illustrated in FIG. 9. Accordingly, it ispossible that, in place of an own web page, the web page illustrated inFIG. 5 is used and is amended by contact window 24.

The name of the person to be called as well as the telephone number towhich a telephone connection is to be established is presented in thecontact window. In the illustrated example, the caller has entered thathe/she wants to establish a telephone connection to the office(“Office”) of the person to be called (“Hanno Hensing”). The telephonenumber to be called can be modified by operation of the control field25.

Further, the current condition as regards a telephone connection to theperson to be called is presented in window 24. The graphical design of acontrol field 26 in FIG. 9 (“telephone handset not putted down”)indicates that presently no telephone connection is established. Thearrow of control field 26 pointing upwards indicates to the user that anoperation of the control field 26 effects that a telephone connection tothe desired person is established. In order to support the user guidanceprovided by the control field 26, the control field 26 can becolourwisely designed in suitable manner, for example green.

When the user activates the control field 26, the telecommunications website starts, as set forth above, to establish a telephone connection tothe person to be called.

Here, the appearance of the window 24 is modified such that the fieldindicated by 25 in FIG. 9 is not displayed any more. Due to theprocedure for establishing a telephone connection to the person to becalled to initially call the caller, it is contemplated that the contactwindow changes its colour, for example obtains an orange colouring.

Further, it is possible to indicate this condition by means of a“statusn” window indicated by 27 in FIG. 10. In this window, thatcondition can be made clear by means of a suitable text (“connected . .. [naming the telephone number of the caller telephone]”) and/or bymeans of a suitable colouring (advantageously in the same colour aswindow 24 in that condition, i. e. orange).

Further, the appearance of the control field 26 has changed such that itnow comprises an arrow pointing downwards. This indicates that anoperation of the control field 26 initialises a termination of thetelephone connection to the given telephone of the caller initialised bythe telecommunications web site. This can additionally be supported invisual manner in that the control field 26 is suitably coloured, e. g.red. This effect of an operation of the control field 26 also applies tothe following, wherein there in dependence of the respective conditionregarding single or several telephone connections the respectivelyestablished telephone connection (s) is (are) terminated from thetelecommunications web site's side.

In case the caller has picked up the telephone handset of his/hertelephone and thereby has informed the telecommunications web site thathe/she actually wants to carry out that requested telephone connection,this condition is indicated to the caller by means of the status window27.

In the illustrated example, this is accomplished by the presentation ofa corresponding text (“Connected . . . [naming the telephone number ofthe caller telephone]”) advantageously in combination with acorresponding colourwise design of the status window, for example ingreen. Because no actual telephone connection to the person to be calledis existing at that point of time, the presentation of the contactwindow does not change, i. e. the exemplary orange colouring ismaintained.

In response to the indication of the caller to actually establish therequested telephone connection, now, under control of thetelecommunications web site, a telephone connection to the telephone tobe called is established. This condition is indicated to the caller bymeans of window 27, for example by means of a suitable text presentation(“connected . . . [naming the telephone number of the callertelephone]”) and/or a suitable colouring (for example orange forconditions wherein telephone connections are initiated by thetelecommunications web site).

In case, a telephone connection between the telephone of the caller andthe telephone of the person to be called is successfully established, i.e. the called person has picked up the telephone handset of his/hertelephone, this condition is indicated by means of the contact window 24and the status window 27. For that purpose, the status window candisplay a suitable text (“Connected . . . [naming the telephone numberof the caller telephone]”) and/or can exhibit a suitable colouring (e.g. green). Also, the contact window 24 can change its colouraccordingly, e.g. can be green. Further, the caller recognises thiscondition, i. e. the successful establishment of a telephone connectionto the telephone of the person to be called, by means of the controlfields 28 and 29 included in the contact window 24. This is illustratedin FIG. 12.

In order to terminate the telephone connection with the person to becalled, the caller operates control field 26. In order to effect amuting as regards the existing telephone connection or to maintain thistelephone connection, the caller can operate the control field 28. Inorder to establish one or several telephone connections starting fromhis/her telephone in addition to the existing telephone connection, thecontrol field “Conference call” indicated by 29 in FIG. 12 is provided.

In case the caller activates control field 28, the telephone connectionestablished so far is maintained and muted, respectively, in order toenable the caller to initiate the establishment of a further telephoneconnection. Here, it is possible that in response to an operation of thecontrol field 28, which can, for example, have a blue colour, the calleris informed via the maintained telephone connection that the callerwants to have the telephone connection established. For example, thiscan be obtained by means of a suitable voice reproduction (“pleasemaintain connection”) and/or by means of playing music. In place of anoperation of the control field 28, this condition can also be obtainedin that the caller indicates that he/she wants to telephone with afurther person after having operated the control field 12 (see FIG. 4)or using an address entry as set forth above with reference to theperson to be called so far.

The case, in which the caller just wants to maintain the telephoneconnection established so far, is indicated in FIG. 13 in that in theaddress entries one thereof is marked (grey-shaded), which characterisesthe caller (“Baumgarten, Sven”). Further, it is contemplated that thiscondition is displayed by means of a corresponding, for example blue,colouring of the contact window. Also, a corresponding text display inwindow 24 (e. g. “Connected . . . [naming the telephone number of thecaller telephone]”, “muted”) and/or in the status window 27 (“Connectedto others”) can be used for visually indicating this condition.

In a case, the caller wants to establish a further telephone connectionusing a telephone entry, the caller is provided the presentation to beseen in FIG. 14. Here, the contact window 24 associated to the firstcalled person to which the telephone connection is maintained ispresented in a changed manner as illustrated in FIG. 14. Here, thecontact window 24 comprises a control field 30, an operation of whichresults that the telephone connection to the first person to be calleddoes not remain muted, but can be used to telephone in conventionalmanner. I. e. by means of the control field 30, the caller can changebetween different telephone connections.

Further, as illustrated in FIG. 14, a further contact window 31 is used,which is associated to the person to be called now. The establishment ofa telephone connection to a further person to be called is carried outas described above with reference to the first person to be called,wherein the observations given with respect to contact window 24correspondingly apply to contact window 31. This is illustrated in FIG.13 to 17.

In order to change between the two telephone connections now beingestablished, beside the above described control field 30, the controlfield 28 or a control field 32 providing the functions thereof can beused.

For a conference call, i. e. a telephone connection simultaneously withseveral persons, the caller operates control field 29 (see FIG. 12). Inresponse thereof, a window 33 is presented, in which a control field 34comparable to the control field 26 in the embodiment illustrated in FIG.10 serves for termination of a conference call being established asdescribed below. A control field 35 in conference window 33 serves,comparable to control field 28 and 32, to effect a muting or maintenanceof telephone connections but here as regards all telephone connectionsinvolved in a conference call.

In the situation illustrated in FIG. 18, the caller has indicated thathe/she wants to establish a conference call, wherein only the telephoneconnection established to the first called person is existing. Theestablishment of a telephone connection to a telephone of a furtherperson who shall be involved in the conference call is accomplished asdescribed above. This is illustrated in FIGS. 19 to 21. The web pageillustrated in FIG. 21 indicates the condition, in which a telephoneconnection to a further person in established but no conference call isexisting.

The actual conference call is obtained under control of thetelecommunications web page in that the telephone connections to the twoperson to be called, which are separated so far, are coupled/connectedwith each other such that both the caller and also both called personscan telephone with each other. This condition is indicated to the callerin the web page illustrated in FIG. 22, in which the contact windows 24and 31 are arranged below the conference window 33.

In order to “unite” one of the called participants in the framework of aconference call, the caller operates either the control field 28 or thecontrol field 32. Advanced just see a contact window, which isassociated to the call participant the telephone connection of which isto be united, is presented in a colourwisely changed manner, for exampleblue.

In case it is not possible to establish a telephone connection to adesired call a partner by means of the telecommunications web site, thiscan be indicated, as illustrated in FIG. 23 by means of the contractwindow 24. This can be obtained, for example, by display of a suitabletext (line occupied) and/or by means of a suitable colourwise design,which also can change the name-cally (“blinking contact window”) also, atext display and/or colour design of the status window 27 suitable forthat purpose is contemplated.

1-19. (canceled)
 20. Method for telephoning, wherein a telephoneconnection is established between at least two telephones under controlof a website.